ONR How To By CalgaryDetail

[CharlesW]

This thread is the work of CalgaryDetail.The reason it is under my user name is because of a screw-up on my part. Hopefully, it will soon be credited to Calgary again.

Optimum No Rinse- How To.

It’s either getting colder or you cannot wash your car in your driveway. What are you supposed to do? Live with a dirty car? Nope. The answer is rinsless washes. There are a few on the market; this is an explanation of how to use ONR. Much other rinse less washes are used in the same way.

What will you need: Optimum no rinse, a wash bucket, a wash medium (a mitt or microfiber cloth). Water, a drying towel and a dirty car.
Here is everything assembled, and ready to go. I have added gloves since its getting cold. Even latex gloves help keep your hands warm. They are however not needed.

A closer shot

Step one: Place the wash mitt in the bucket. I have chosen 1 bucket with a grit guard to make things simple. Two buckets can also be used. Fill bucket with warm water, I try to get it as hot as possible because it will just cool down in the snow.


Step Two: Add ONR to the wash bucket. The direction say to add one oz per gallon of water. How much water needed will depend on how big and dirty the car is. Today I used 2 gallons, so I added 2oz of Optimum no rinse.

Note it may give the water a slight blue tinge, it might not just depends on the bucket, water ect.
Also it’s important to note the water will not foam up like soap. If it does your bucket is dirty. (Old soap left in bucket) empty it out and start over.
Step Three: Throw on the rubber gloves, and get ready for the cold (assuming its winter) as you can see I had my gloves ready

Go to where the car is. I did mine on the street in front of my house in plain view; I was not worried as I was breaking no bylaws.
Step Four: This is where we start washing. The car is dirty, the mitt is wet, and we are ready to go. Start by picking up the mitt. You will notice it is dripping water; you may not need this much to clean the car. If it is a light dust give it a quick ring. If the car is really dirty then don’t wring it at all.

Start at the top of the car as water will drip down, we do not want to have to dry the car 10 times per spot.
You want to make sure to rub every area of the car, the knap in the mitt or cloth will pick up and trap the dirt. Do not just let the water run over the paint; make sure the mitt runs over it.
Here is a pic of me doing the roof.

I use long back and forth strokes to make sure I get every inch of the paint.

Once I have done the whole area, I flip the mitt over and do it again, this makes sure I got everything. With some practice it will become second nature.

As you can see, half the roof is still wet; this is the area I did

We then want to dry the car. We use are drying towel as we would if we where washing the car normally, except we only dry the area we washed. If it’s important not to go over the dry area as the dirt will get stuck in the cloth and be dragged around when washing the rest of the car.

The towel should still be clean; all dirt should have been picked up by the wash tool not the cloth. If the cloth comes out dirty you are not cleaning the area well enough.
My cloth is wet, but clean.

Continue this process throughout the whole car working from top down. You can also do the glass this way.
Step Five: We want to do the wheel wells and rims now. I save these for last as they are often the dirtiest.


Since there is more dirt and grime on these areas use more solution on your mitt. It should be dripping.

Get right in there; you may want to roll us your sleeve as its going to get dirty.
Notes:
As you can see the water will get dirty, this is fine. If it gets to dirty make sure to chance it. There is no harm in changing it once or twice. You are still only using 4 gallons of water. Much less than a regular wash.


The towel has stayed clean the whole wash; it is wet but can be hung to dry.

Once you have washed the car you have the option of going to wax. You may find it easier to clean the paint next time because the wax helps protect the paint form getting dirty.

Thanks for reading, I hope this was a help. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask. Also comments, good or bad would be appreciated. The only way to get better on these is to know what I have done wrong.

[CharlesW]

When I edited the picture links, I made a draft copy to work with so I didn`t screw-up the original.
When it was done, I intended to delete the draft copy.
I managed to delete both the draft copy and the original.

This is a rebuild of the original thread, but all the great, well deserved comments complimenting CalgaryDetail have been lost.
Maybe you people can tell him again what a great thread this is.
I`m sure it was a lot more work than many of us realize.
It will be listed under CalgaryDetail when I figure out how to do that.
My apologies to Mike. (CalgaryDetail)

Charles

[CalgaryDetail]

Thanks Charles,
I had fun doing it, i really enjoy doing reviews and write ups.. its not abou the praise or compliments (not to sound arogant... i feel bad even posting this).

Thanks for the work you have had to put in to repost it...
and it can go under your name, not a big deal to me

[joe.p]

nice post buddy..btw,Congrats on your new wax
..from what i read waiting on the wax has aged you by two months

[Bunky]

Since everyone says it does not scratch your car (still hard to believe), but if you are seeing dirt on the drying towel does that not in fact mean you are drying a dirty surface so are theoretically scratching it. The moral seems to wash it several times to be sure before drying until you get the feel of the process.

[CharlesW]

Since everyone says it does not scratch your car (still hard to believe), but if you are seeing dirt on the drying towel does that not in fact mean you are drying a dirty surface so are theoretically scratching it. The moral seems to wash it several times to be sure before drying until you get the feel of the process.

If you look closely, he says "The towel should still be clean; all dirt should have been picked up by the wash tool not the cloth. If the cloth comes out dirty you are not cleaning the area well enough.
My cloth is wet, but clean." in one area and "The towel has stayed clean the whole wash; it is wet but can be hung to dry." in another.
The dirt should have been picked up by the wash tool and then left in the wash bucket when the wash tool was rinsed.

Charles

[glen22]

All I can say is..... one of my cars is black and it gets scratches just looking at it....
It can just have 1 days worth of dust and any qd and micro fiber towel will still scratch so I am sure this procedure will. I am sure it helps for keeping the car looking clean but I would have a good polishing to do come spring..

[Beemerboy]

All I can say is..... one of my cars is black and it gets scratches just looking at it....
It can just have 1 days worth of dust and any qd and micro fiber towel will still scratch so I am sure this procedure will. I am sure it helps for keeping the car looking clean but I would have a good polishing to do come spring..

Glenn...I have not used the giving product..however like you I have a black car and use PB S&W all the time and with the correct procedure you can minimize that effects of marring...during the winter its a viable alternative to bucket washing

[CharlesW]

All I can say is..... one of my cars is black and it gets scratches just looking at it....
It can just have 1 days worth of dust and any qd and micro fiber towel will still scratch so I am sure this procedure will. I am sure it helps for keeping the car looking clean but I would have a good polishing to do come spring..

Glenn...I have not used the giving product..however like you I have a black car and use PB S&W all the time and with the correct procedure you can minimize that effects of marring...during the winter its a viable alternative to bucket washing

Glen:
Like Beemerboy, I have used Poorboy`s S&W on very dark vehicles with no problems. It was Pontiac`s Black Sapphire and in some light, it appeared black. I also used QEW on that same vehicle with no problem.
I happen to use DP 4 in 1 as my rinseless wash, but I have had no problems on a bright red Grand Prix or a white Montana.
Maybe like a lot of products, it might be a good idea for you to try it in only one smaller area and see the results for yourself.

Charles

[CalgaryDetail]

nice post buddy..btw,Congrats on your new wax
..from what i read waiting on the wax has aged you by two months

thanks joe.. and the wax is round 2...

Since everyone says it does not scratch your car (still hard to believe), but if you are seeing dirt on the drying towel does that not in fact mean you are drying a dirty surface so are theoretically scratching it. The moral seems to wash it several times to be sure before drying until you get the feel of the process.

If you are seeing dirt on the drying towel you are not doing it corectly .... all the dirt shoud be removed with the mitt. If there s irt on the drying tool you need to go back and rewash the area... if done correctly there should be no issue

All I can say is..... one of my cars is black and it gets scratches just looking at it....
It can just have 1 days worth of dust and any qd and micro fiber towel will still scratch so I am sure this procedure will. I am sure it helps for keeping the car looking clean but I would have a good polishing to do come spring..

sounsd like you have some really soft clean ... onr works as wel as a high end soap (when used correctlty). If there is no marring from the soap there should be none from onr..